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Where NOBODY Knows Your Name, 26JULY
I was so thankful for an alternative spiritual morning. I was glad to wake early, walk and hoped to get spiritually fed. It’s Friday of vacation, so I made my way to a fancy church – a BIG one – Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, NYC… I’ve been in big churches in Europe, there’s lots of gawking over gold… Everyone is a guest, NOBODY knows your name.
Well, Somebody here knows, God knows…
What caught everyone’s attention was a random presence of a perceived “troublemaker” – caught security’s attention right away as he came up late with arms flailing up and a pre-defensive stance. Loud talking, he exclaimed “So what if I am late!” The priest looked out, said OK, then continued. He was OK, it was OK… Nobody knew his name but people knew his presence… It seemed OK so I nestled in for a message.
Actually I heard THREE half-hour masses this morning, LOL, 7 AM was 30 min, 730 was 22 minutes, 8 AM was 19 minutes, hmmm.. Now the 7 AM had a beautiful singer, hymns I actually knew… the others had no hymns, that’s quite the 11 minute difference… I had plenty of time to sit and think while others dashed to work. My daughter was still sleeping in the hotel 10 minutes away, I pondered my position…
So after the first mass, I moved to the side chapel, still within earshot, but in a corner where I could write. The chapel of Mary of Guadalupe. Beautifully displayed is my favorite painting of Mary, this image simply sticks with me…
Scriptures were PERFECT – one old testament- one new – covering old covenant and new covenant….. Exodus “I am the Lord Your God” 10 commandments and the Parable of the Sower – MY FAVORITE!!! I was the DRY soil kind of soul – I did however put the seeds in my pocket, the evil one didn’t get them all, I simply spouted late, God FLOODED me… I bloomed… COOL…
At 7 AM I sang and then there was NO sermon, HUH? WAIT WHAT? Oh, rats, only half hour masses before work, I see, in and out… I did learn that Saints Joachim and Anne are not names in the Bible, but assigned Saint names to Mary’s parents, as Jesus’s grandparents… prayers are said to Anne for fertility… A sentence but no sermon, at 7 or 8, I was sad…
Yet at 730, THERE WAS, the priest made no mention of the fertility but explained the scripture, YAY!!! Kingdom fertility, Good Soil…
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103
The 730 priest’s mini sermon was a five minute explanation of the seed sowing scripture!!! I loved it…
He explained that Jesus took His disciples aside to explain that parable because they were His friends and so they too could process and understand (me too! I ask Jesus questions too!)… Then the Priest explained we should want this Good Seed planted in us, nurture it, so we too can go be the people that Jesus wants us to be…
“What kind of a seed will we sow today?
Is our heart open to receive the seed?”
Oh, I was HAPPY with a personal mini-sermon… The prayer of Saint Patrick posted on the altar rail (photo attached) includes being Christ to everyone you meet… Jesus explained to His disciples that not everyone understands the Good News, you might have to explain it… LET THOSE WHO HAVE EARS HEAR!
Jesus needed His disciples to understand deeply, in order to teach this… US TOO… Jesus needs us too…
Jesus said:
“the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
We know that for the lost, for us all, that indeed SOMEONE DOES KNOW OUR NAME!
JESUS DOES.
We know that in the world that it seems that nobody knows Your name, Lord, but we do and so we will tell of Your Love!
JESUS LOVES US.
JESUS LOVES ME.
JESUS LOVES YOU!
JESUS KNOWS YOU.
AMEN!
St Patrick’s prayer for us to EMULATE Jesus:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
Matthew 13, Jesus said:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Exodus 20:1-20
And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Debbie Upper 